'The Evidence Is Clear as Day': Released Emails Show Amazon Telling Vendors to Raise Prices And Them Complying Within Hours

California's attorney general has released explosive internal emails revealing Amazon's alleged years-long scheme to manipulate prices across the country's biggest retailers.

Attorney General Rob Bonta on 20 April 2026 secured public access to a largely unredacted version of a preliminary injunction filing in a lawsuit his office first brought against Amazon in 2022. The court documents lay out specific email exchanges in which Amazon directed vendors to pressure competing retailers into raising their prices, or pull products from shelves altogether.

Levi Strauss, Hanes, Allergan, and gardening supplier Agrothrive are among the companies whose internal correspondence with Amazon now forms the backbone of the state's price-fixing case.

Amazon's Three-Part Scheme to Control Prices at Rival Retailers

According to the unredacted filing, Amazon deployed three distinct methods to drive up consumer prices. In the first, Amazon and a rival retailer used their shared vendor as a go-between, arranging for a price increase or a temporary product withdrawal so the competitor could match the inflated rate. In the second, a rival already selling a product at a lower price was instructed, through the vendor, to raise that price so Amazon could then match the new higher figure.

In the third scheme, the vendor removed a product entirely from any competing platform offering it at a lower price, eliminating that cheaper option from the market altogether. Bonta said these directives were not suggestions. Vendors that failed to comply faced advertising and promotion restrictions, financial penalties, and the removal of their products from Amazon's platform.

'Amazon used vendors as the middleman,' Bonta told reporters, directing them to contact retailers and push for price increases so Amazon would not have to compete on price directly.

These alleged schemes covered a broad range of everyday goods, from clothing and pet food to eye drops and household furniture. Bonta noted that 92 per cent of consumers say they are more likely to buy from Amazon than any other site, giving the company substantial leverage to enforce compliance.

Khakis, Eye Drops, and Pet Treats: The Email Chains Showing Compliance Within Hours

The unredacted evidence includes several specific email chains that Bonta's office says are representative of a widespread pattern spanning years and multiple product categories.

In one exchange, Amazon sent Levi Strauss links to Levi's Easy Khaki Classic fit trousers priced between £19.50 ($25.47) and £20.70 ($26.99) on Walmart.com, below Amazon's preferred retail price of £22.99 ($29.99). Amazon wrote that it 'hoped these can get resolved over the next few days.' The following day, a Levi Strauss employee confirmed that Walmart had agreed to bring the price 'back up to... $29.99 immediately.' Amazon acknowledged the increase and confirmed it had matched the higher price on its own platform.

A separate exchange involved pet food vendor GlobalOne and Chewy. Amazon put its plan in writing: it would increase GlobalOne's Canine Naturals pet treat prices on Amazon first, then GlobalOne would 'reach out to Chewy' and ask the rival to follow. Amazon instructed GlobalOne to 'let Chewy know to update [pricing] immediately.' Within hours, GlobalOne confirmed the 'ones that went up on Amazon immediately went up on Chewy [happy face emoji]... Overall this looks like it's working!' State attorneys allege the result was a price increase across more than ten Canine Naturals pet treat products on both platforms.

In the Allergan case, Amazon emailed the pharmaceutical vendor to say it had temporarily suppressed eye drops due to a price match at £10.45 ($13.59), and that it would 'check the price match regularly throughout the day.' Allergan sent back a screenshot showing Walmart had raised its price to £13.07 ($16.99), and Amazon confirmed: 'Buy box back up at $16.99.' For plant fertiliser brand Agrothrive, an email chain shows an Agrothrive representative writing to Amazon: 'Yes, just got out of a meeting with the Home Depot manager and she has agreed to raise the prices this time.'

Bonta's office also cited a message from an Amazon employee to a vendor that read: 'I am very determined to help you hunt the disrupters in the market.' The attorney general described these interactions as not outliers but part of a coordinated and ongoing practice.

January 2027 Trial Date Set as Federal Antitrust Case Runs in Parallel

Bonta filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in February 2026, asking the San Francisco Superior Court to halt Amazon's alleged conduct while the case advances. A hearing on that motion is set for 23 July 2026. The case itself is scheduled to go to trial in January 2027. The injunction would bar Amazon from communicating with vendors about competitors' pricing and, if granted, would place a court-appointed monitor over Amazon's practices.

California is not the only jurisdiction pursuing Amazon on pricing practices. In September 2023, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a separate federal antitrust lawsuit against the company in the Western District of Washington, alleging it illegally maintains monopoly power across two interrelated online retail markets. Judge John H. Chun denied Amazon's motion to dismiss in September 2024, allowing the FTC's claims to proceed. Federal trial is currently scheduled for October 2026.

Amazon disputes the state's allegations and has previously maintained that vendors on its platform 'set their own prices.' The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the newly released evidence. Bonta's office is seeking consumer restitution and damages alongside the structural remedies.

With two major lawsuits now in active litigation and a federal trial approaching, Amazon's pricing practices face the most serious legal scrutiny in the company's history.